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We got our first glimpses of 2 of the 4 planned Warren Ellis scripted Marvel Anime series this weekend, Iron Man and Wolverine! While I am stoked as hell for anything that mad bastard Ellis does, I’ve got mixed feelings about what I’ve seen here and judging by general buzz of my geeky brethren around the internet I am far from alone.

First off, I thought Iron Man looked incredible and seemed especially well suited (no pun intended) for the anime treatment. The detail of the armor is fantastic and the action looks powerfully kinetic!

Wolverine however leaves me feeling a bit wary. They went for a very uncharacteristic thin and lanky look, very gaunt face with a ridiculous anime mullet. In fact, aside from the claws there is absolutely nothing in his design that indicates that this is Wolverine. Now it is important to keep in mind that these are meant to be Japanese re-imaginings of the characters so they do have a bit more creative leeway. Hopefully Mr. Ellis will deliver a story bad ass enough (which he says will be loosely based on Claremont/Miller miniseries) to make us forget how friggin’ weird he looks.

While I admittedly have my concerns about how well Ms. Johansson will be able to pull off a convincing Russian accent I certainly had no worries as to her ability to fill out out a black leather cat-suit!

Here is an excerpt from the article:

Adding more flesh and blood to the new movie, Scarlett Johansson joined the cast as Stark’s mysterious new assistant, Natasha, who has an alter ego of her own, Black Widow. That introduction inevitably sparks romantic tension between Stark and former assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), who’s been promoted to CEO of Stark Industries. “The men want it to be, like, ‘Ooh, the girls are fighting over Tony,’ but it’s not as standard as that,” says Paltrow. “There’s a weird male catfight fantasy. Downey agrees. He believes what differentiates the franchise from other superhero series can be summarized as follows: “We’re horny. Not, like, can’t-bring-your-kids horny, but just…horny.”

Yes, I’m sure it will be a very sophisticated and dignified catfight Ms. Paltrow.

Read more of what the cast had to say here, including why Mickey Rourke’s Whiplash likes to get drunk and talk to a cockatoo.

I’ve seen a couple Civil War fan trailers makin’ the nerd news rounds lately but this one is by far the best! The editing is superb! It combines film clips of Spider-Man, X-Men, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Hulk and even managed to make good use of the cheesy and forgettable 1990 Captain America movie! Don’t be confused by the insertion of a few Watchmen clips in there too. We see a shot of exploding Dr. Manhattan alluding to the villain Nitro (whose act of mass destruction kicked off the Superhero Registration Act) and there is also the clip of the Comedian’s funeral service standing in for what is assumed to be Captain America’s.

Where the other Civil War trailers I have seen tended to be a little choppy in their editing, this one manages to fit scenes together nearly seamlessly, creating the fun effect of these characters actually interacting and fighting with one another. Sadly since Sony has the film rights to Spider-Man and Fox owns the rights to X-Men, Daredevil and Fantastic Four, we may never get to see this ultimate clash of Marvel titans actually hit the big screen. Of course that just makes these little fan-made labors of love all the more exciting!

Ah, a nerd can dream can’t he? At least we still get to look forward to Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor and others joining forces when The Avengers assemble in theaters come 2012!

Robert Downey Jr. recently did a roundtable interview for his upcoming film The Soloist and Collider.com has posted some bits on what the actor had to say about Iron Man II.

On the pressure of a sequel:

..I’ve never been in a sequel and it’s very daunting because I feel the expectation of the millions of people who watched it and enjoyed it and told me that it was a little different than your usual genre picture and that they expected us to not screw it up. So I actually have taken “Iron Man 2” probably more seriously than any movie I’ve ever done, which is appropriately ridiculous for Hollywood.

On the story:

…the story is incredibly risky and artistic for a big genre movie…The set pieces have to do with things that aren’t your typical like bad guy conflict. The relationships are very complex and hilarious. The motivations Tony has and why he turns around and does things has completely to do with his own internal processes and it really is, I think, as much as we tried to in the first one really see behind the façade of this kind of storytelling. We really, I think, leaving ourselves open to…we’re kind of trying to tell a story about how a dysfunctional family saves life on Earth as we know it

On his co-stars:

I’ve seen his (Mickey Rourke’s) stuff and it is literally remarkable. Literally remarkable. He’s so good. And he’s formidable and he’s very much reminding me of that kind of charming, confident guy that we know. Sam Rockwell, on the first day of shooting I was like “if this guy thinks he’s going to be funnier and cooler than me (laughter) and it was a photo-finish. Scarlett Johansson, amazing. Don Cheadle is just rocking it

So there you have it! You can read the rest of what he had to say, including bits on his other potential franchise Sherlock Holmes, here.

I’m really excited to see how this turns out! Sounds like Downey is really gonna step it up for this one and I always like hearing “incredibly risky and artistic”. 🙂

I’m also a big fan of Rourke, Rockwell and Cheadle (not to mention Samuel L. Jackson, returning as Nick Fury). My only worry is Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow. While she certainly makes for Grade A eye candy, I just hope we don’t have to suffer through a painfully half-assed Russian accent. I trust Favreau though and I know he’s workin’ his ass off to give us a worthy sequel!